Book Review: The One-Bowl Baker by Stephanie Simmons

The One Bowl Baker: Easy, Unfussy Recipes for Decadent Cakes, Brownies, Cookies and Breads
by Stephanie Simmons (641.865 Sim)

The conceit of this beautiful little cookbook is that all of the recipes can be accomplished with a single medium or large sized mixing bowl. The author cheats a little bit by having you mix some of the ingredients separately in the glass measuring cups you’ve already used for measuring some of the ingredients, but for the most part, the “one bowl” rule is successful.

 

As hinted at by the gorgeous one-pan chocolate cake shown on the front cover, the emphasis here is on desserts. Simmons breaks up the content of The One Bowl Baker into the following chapters: Cookies for All Occasions, Blondies, Brownies and Bars, Celebratory Cakes and Pies, Crisps, Cobblers and a Pandowdy, Breakfast and Brunch Bites, with two final non-dessert chapters, Savory Bakes and Finishing Touches.

Each recipe, which takes anywhere from 1 to 3 pages, is accompanied by a gorgeous color photo of the finished product (often loaded with a scoop of ice cream). Simmons tries to put a gourmet twist on many of the recipes included, without making it too frou-frou for the average taste palette. Traditional peanut butter cookies become Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint cookies. Krispie Treats become S’mores Rice Krispie Treats. Cinnamon Rolls become Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls.

 

I’ll admit, some of the sweets included here led to a Pavlovian response from me. I would love to try the Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Cookies, the Snickerdoodle Blondies, the Salted Caramel Apple Galette, the Caramel Apple Hand Pies, the Brown Sugar and Bourbon Cherry Crisp, the Caramel Peach Pandowdy, the Maple Cinnamon Biscuits, the Nutella-swirled Banana Bread and the Best Homemade Soft Pretzels.

Cooking/mixing techniques are simple and straight-forward, and should allow even the casual home cook to turn out high-quality results. Strongly recommended. And if you make the Spiced Cranberry, Pear and Apple Crisp, I want to taste it!

 

( official Stephanie Simmons author page on Amazon.com )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!